If you read the Naxos
Corrobee review first you should forget any
and all descriptive terminology I used there.
Remember that rather old-time phrase "diametrically
opposed"? Well, consider it used here. There is
nothing primitive, forceful, stressful or even
irritating about Alwyn's music. That leaves words or
phrases such as melodically appealing, relaxing,
interesting, tuneful and attractive. All the
selections listed here present the aforementioned
attributes. It would take a great deal of writing to
describe what often tends to be rather slight
differences between his appealing compositions. For
the most part, Alwyn is not trying to scale majestic
heights or create and transfer profound thoughts or
insights. Here is music and melody presented for
enjoyment from relatively subtle to directly
forthright. The size of the orchestral forces vary
greatly. As an example, the last group of brief
compositions, the Suite of Scottish Dances isdeliberately scored for small orchestra and the
smaller forces clearly reveal every small and subtle
detail inherent in the music.

Audiophiles as well
as music lovers may have great interest in this
excellent release. The Pastoral Fantasia iswritten to feature the solo viola to a greatextent. The viola is seldom featured in
classical music.Here it is, very cleanly andclearly recorded so listeners can learn
how it sounds and thennever confuse it and
the rather similar sound of the violin. Falling
between the violin and cello, the viola could be
thought of as a "tenor violin" and played here by
Philip Dukes. In the Suite of Scottish Dances
the Cor anglais, a not generally used name for the
English horn, is beautifully recorded with Rachael
Panhurst. It is generally considered to be a tenor
oboe and it sounds exactly like that. It too is
seldom featured in classic music. Alwyn's Five
Preludes, here receiving its world premiere
recording, is colorfully scored for large orchestra.
Here careful listening will clearly reveal the
xylophone, at times with muted trumpets, side drum
and tuba also chiming in. The excellent audio
quality is not quite the same as the aforementioned
Corroboree release. Somehow, here there is a
bit more of a relaxed atmospheric quality as if it
were presenting a slightly more distant perspective such as
being heard from a half dozen rows further from the
stage. Chalk this up as another fine CD release by
Naxos. It would be nice if music lovers would
petition Naxos to release some of these in SACD for
even greater enjoyment. All in all this release is a
good introduction to Alwyn's music and
if you want more, his
symphonies would be a good choice.

John Antill's life
and career spanned much of the twentieth century.
Born in Sydney, Australia much of Antill's fame
evolves from his studies on Aboriginal music and his
attendance at an Aboriginal Corroboree a kind of
ritual ceremony. Those studies and notes eventually
led to his highly successful and extremely popular
ballet, Corroboree. This composition is
considered a landmark in Australian music history.
His many previous compositions, including a dozen
string quartets, have not survived and so existing
scores are all from compositions completed after
Corroboree. Written in the nineteen forties
probably automatically puts the composition into the
contemporary or modern category. The Outback
Overture actually opens the recording though it
is listed second on the notes and album cover.
Somehow in slightly less than eight minutes it
contains both hints of the main composition,
Corroboree, and excerpts as well as hints or
snippets from works by other composers, mainly
British ones. I find these Antill compositions
difficult in the extreme to describe. Any of our
readers that are familiar with Igor Stravinsky's
famous Rite ofSpring whether from
recordings, the concert hall or its memorable use in
Walt Disney's film Fantasia, will definitely
hear extremely similar music or passages in Antill's
music being reviewed here. Therefore it is rather
easy to describe much of his music as powerfully
primitive as the composer had been exposed to the
music and dancing of Aboriginal ceremonies in the
Australian outback. Those activities are definitely
primitive! Stravinsky's use of seemingly similar
music is also primitive as used by Disney to
accompany some very early creatures such as
dinosaurs stomping around areas of planet Earth.
Fortunately there is substantial melodic and
beautiful harmonic materials interspersed with
powerful primitive rhythms. In many of those melodic
passages, various solo and duo instruments are
effectively used and realistically recorded. The
seven movements or sections of Corroboree are fairly
logically titled, such as "A Rain Dance", "Rising
Sun", "Morning Star" and the frenzied dance finale
accurately described as chaotic, "Procession of
Totems and Closing Ceremony."

Conductor James Judd
(familiar to me from his years with the Florida
Philharmonic Orchestra) and the New Zealand
Symphony Orchestra are fully and beautifully up to
the demands of this large-scale composition. So is
the recording; easily the equal of Naxos' best
recent recordings. Naxos at their best is difficult
to surpass—no, they are not all equally good, though
surprisingly because of the many various recording
venues and other variables, consistency is rather
common. My guess is that microphone brands/models
are fairly standardized and placement/distances are
a bit closer than with many companies in other parts
of the world. Here the excellent results offer
natural details, fullness and solid palpable bass
from the tympani and bass drum to satisfy
audiophiles as well as true music lovers. Topping
all that off is the absence of any harshness or
irritating treble distortions. I partly attribute
that to the extended smooth low distortion response
of my latest VSEI upgraded older Sony model CD/SACD
players. Do not pay attention to old myths that
better or upgraded players more clearly reveal/add
to harsh distortions. The really top models or
upgrades have lower distortions and do not add
distortions or harshness; they are smooth and
sweet.